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Friday, January 18, 2013

THE WEDDING BANQUET

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2ND
SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME – C

John 2:1-12

While the other evangelists usually
called the supernatural works performed by Jesus as miracles, St. John called
them signs. While the other evangelists
reported many miracles in each of their gospels, John recorded only seven signs
in his gospel. The Wedding in Cana being
the first of the seven signs in the Gospel of St. John and never reported by
the other evangelists was very important because of its symbolic or
representative value. As a sign, it is meant to reveal the mystery of Jesus.

In the Old Testament, the relationship
of God and Israel was likened to the groom and bride respectively and God being
the groom would provide the finest wines.
In the New Testament, Jesus would refer to Himself as the bridegroom (Mk
2:19; Mt 9:15; Lk 5:34). During the
time of Jesus a wedding banquet usually lasted a week in the case of a first marriage and three
days in case of a widow remarrying. The
groom would be the host of the banquet and provided wine for the guests. In this particular wedding in Cana, the
bridegroom was unable to provide the wine for the guests so that St. John
presented now Jesus as the bridegroom of humanity who would provide the wine.

Worth
mentioning are the meanings of the different symbols used in the wedding for a
better understanding of the story. The
presence of Mary is very important in the story; John never mentioned her name
in his gospel because for him Mary was the representation of the Church. Jesus
addressing her as “woman” here would be repeated in the scene beneath
the cross (Jn 19:26) which was in reference to the “woman” in Gen. 3:15. Mary being aware of the need of wine brought
it to the attention of Jesus who acted in obedience of her so that the first miracle
of Jesus happened through Mary’s intercession.
It is said that Mary spoke only seven times in the gospels; “Do whatever
he tells you” would be Her last recorded words.
That would be the most enduring message of Mary to all the disciples of
Jesus. The six stones jars which were
used for purification represented the incomplete (the number six) and the
hardened (stone) Jewish rituals which were
useless. The water of the Old Testament used
for ritual washings prescribed by the mosaic Law, now futile, was transformed
into the wine of the New Testament. The
bridegroom of Cana, unable to provide enough wine in his own wedding, was superseded by Jesus as the new bridegroom. The quality and quantity of the new wine
alluded to the preciousness and the abundance in the heavenly banquet of Jesus.

The Wedding of Cana as a sign revealed
Jesus in His divintiy as the new bridegroom of humanity and we as members of
the Church are His bride. Every time we
celebrate the Eucharist we re-live the wedding of Cana and at the same we are
given a foretaste of the heavenly banquet where God will manifest His
glory.